1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to drums general and in particular to an apparatus for reducing the input size of the bass drum, while maintaining a larger outboard face.
2. Description of Related Art
Kick drums are bass drums which are played with a beater attached to a pedal, providing the deep bass sound in a music ensemble. Bass drums may be in the range of 16-40 inches in diameter and have two heads or faces. The inboard face of a kick drum is directed towards the percussionist while the outboard face is directed towards the audience. A membrane stretched over the inboard face resonates when impacted with the beater, and the vibrations within the drum subsequently vibrate another membrane stretched over the outboard face.
To allow a percussionist to play multiple percussion instruments at once, an assortment of instruments are physically arranged together in a drum kit or drum set. Drum kits include several percussion instruments, which often include the bass drum, played with a foot pedal, a snare drum mounted on a stand in front of the player and played with drum sticks, two or more toms, also on stands, played with sticks or brushes, a hi-hat cymbal played with a foot pedal, and one or more cymbals played with sticks. More or less percussion instruments may be included in the drum kit.
The drum kit is commonly arranged such that the percussionist can access all instruments from one position. This may require that some of the instruments are “stacked” so that they may be within reach. In many drum kits, the snare drum and toms are positioned very close to, or above, the bass drum, depending on the size of the drummer. When the bass drum diameter is large, the other instruments may not be easily stacked above it as the resulting elevation of the instruments could not be easily accessed by the percussionist. In this case, the bass drum may be shifted away from the percussionist, resulting in a longer leg reach to the pedal. Therefore, with a larger bass drum, the increased elevation of the stacked instruments or the extended leg reach to access the bass drum is an inconvenience for the percussionist. Conversely, however, smaller bass drums may be less desirable for some drum kits and drummers due to the higher frequency of such drums.